FALASCIA (falà)—emigrant, from Ge'ez falata (to migrate).—Small groups of Jewish religion in northern Ethiopia, in the region between Quara, west of Lake Tana, and Semien. They speak an Agau language (a Hamitic language).
J. Halevy regarded them as descendants of Jews deported by the Abyssinians after the conquest of Yemen (6th century A.D.). I. Guidi believed them to have originated from the Jewish military colonies stationed on the frontier fortifications under Psammetichus II (6th century B.C.). C. Conti Rossini connected them with the groups of Jewish merchants that had formed on the Eritrean coast and, having intermarried with indigenous peoples, were thought to have constituted the Falasha populations.
During the expeditions of the Abyssinian neguses in 1332 and around 1390, the F. offered vigorous resistance, launching counterattacks against Christian churches and monasteries. After the expedition of the negus Ishan (1414–29), massacres of F. took place under the neguses Bo'eda Mārjām (1468–78) and Malak Sagad (1579, 1580, and 1585–86). The insurrection of the Falasha Gedeon was suppressed and its leader killed (1623). From then on, the F., subjugated and isolated, declined in number. The various confessions sought to convert them. Through the efforts of Jacques Faitlovich and S. H. Margulies, a Jewish committee was established to assist the F. and bring them back to the Judaism of the present day, although some scholars, such as Scheffelowitz, have questioned their Israelite origin. The negus Hājiš Šellā offered Faitlovich land for the construction of a school for the F. Two young Falasha were sent to Florence and Paris to prepare for teaching.
The literature of the F. is religious in character. In their writings they used the Ethiopian language (Ge'ez), mixed with Agau. They follow the Old Testament, using exclusively the Ge'ez translation that came to them from the Abyssinian Church, and preserve some apocryphal books, likewise in Christian translation. The F. are unfamiliar with the Talmudic tradition. They spend the Sabbath, night and day, except during mealtimes, in the synagogue; they preserve vestiges of sacrificial worship. They observe the preceding fast, but not the feast of Purim; they are also unfamiliar with the Encaenia. They celebrate Pentecost thirty-seven days after Easter; but their calendar is empirical, and therefore the dates of the feasts fluctuate. They observe strict laws of purity concerning food and every aspect of life. Mostly engaged in humble occupations, they are consequently surrounded by contempt.